The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, & Peter Jackson (New Line Cinema; based on the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien)

In addition, awards were presented, as previously announced, to Ursula K. Le Guin as Grand Master, and Katherine MacLean as Author Emeritus.

Richard Chwedyk, Neil Gaiman, and Katherine MacLean were present to accept their awards. Harry Harrison served as Toastmaster. Phil Klass presented the Grand Master Award to Le Guin, citing her novels The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed as masterpieces. Eileen Gunn accepted, reading a funny letter from Le Guin, who is on a previously scheduled cruise through the Caribbean and the Panama Canal; she described her anticipated experience (a daiquiri in one hand and barf bag in the other), and offered some modest suggestions on how SFWA should treat Grand Masters (e.g., they should always be addressed as "Your Grandeur"). Gunn arranged for various members of the audience to hold up 'Ursula masks' on cue to represent Le Guin's presence.

Sharon Lee presented the Author Emeritus Award to Katherine MacLean, who gave a brief acceptance speech. (There were no speeches during the evening's ceremony, by special awards winners or guests. MacLean, and toastmaster Harrison, gave speeches on Friday night.)

Catherine Asaro led presentation of the Nebula Awards proper. Katherine MacLean stepped forward at once to read the nominees and announce the winner of the short story award. Gordon Van Gelder accepted for Emshwiller, mentioning that she had won the Philip K. Dick Award the night before (for her novel The Mount).

Gardner Dozois presented the novelette award. Eileen Gunn accepted for Chiang, reading a brief statement in which Chiang thanked those SFWA members who voted for the stories they truly thought were the best.

Catherine Mintz presented the award for best script, and played a video tape (with some inevitable technical difficulties) from Peter Jackson, who is on location in New Zealand finishing The Return of the King.

Catherine Asaro thanked various members of the audience for helping put together the Nebula Awards Weekend, especially Catherine Mintz, before introducting Sheila Finch to present the novella award. Richard Chwedyk accepted his award, reading a long list of thank yous, including editor Gordon Van Gelder, and Ted Chiang, for keeping the word count down on "Hell Is the Absence of God".

Joe Haldeman presented the final award, for best novel. He kept the audience in suspense while citing a New Scientist article about parallel worlds, suggesting that there might well be six parallel universes, one for each novel nominee in which that nominee was the winner. Then he announced the winner in this universe. Neil Gaiman, after acknowledging that he might have screwed up his Hugo Award acceptance speech, said he didn't expect to win this award either, considering the strong competition, but that even if he didn't feel he deserved to win, he wasn't giving it back.

The evening closed with an announcement from Charles N. Brown about the establishment of the Paul G. Allen sponsored Science Fiction Experience museum in Seattle.